Petrom, the largest company in Romania, which is now controlled by Austrian petroleum group OMV will focus on "internationalising" its operations. Its goal is to create a strong presence in the area surrounding the Caspian Sea.
"Our goal is to become the leader of the petroleum and gas sector in Southeast Europe. We are only the biggest producer in this region for now. As part of the strategy to internationalise operations, we want Kazakhstan to become a core business region alongside Romania. The Caspian Sea area is our target," Mariana Gheorghe, chief executive officer of Petrom since mid June, told ZIARUL FINANCIAR.
"We want to boost production of oil in Kazakhstan to 30,000 barrels a day," Petrom's official adds.
"The targets include Turkmenistan and other countries in that area. We are also looking at the Russian market, where we could enter by means of an acquisition. We will take the specificity of each market into account and the local climate. There is an acquisition strategy in place for positioning on the market depending on opportunities," says Mariana Gheorghe.
Petrom's expansion interests also target the Black Sea region and Ukraine.
"Our plans in the Ukraine may concern retail or exploration and production operations, as there are opportunities in the gas sector," Petrom's representative says.
The new head of Petrom, who had previously worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for 13 years, will now be directly in charge of the strategy, which used to be one of the duties of the deputy chief executive, a position held by Austrian Werner Schinhan.
"I took on new responsibilities related to the company's strategy. The first step I took at Petrom in my CEO position was to establish a strategy division. We don't have a coordinator for the strategy division yet. We are now recruiting
